FINGERS OF A LOVING HAND 溫柔的指掌
(poems/stories in Chinese/English 中英詩文)

8/28/2006

Hands and Feet

(Dedicated to the Chinese artist, Shanqing Zeng, who was banished by his government and now resides in the U.S.)

Artist

Zeng Shanqing

Title

EATING

Medium

Ink on Paper

Size

35 x 38.4 in. / 89 x 97.6 cm.

These Tibetan hands and feet
walk into the canvas
of a New York gallery
in silence
like pilgrims
in search of
a bowl of freedom
after a long exile
to unknown directions.

We never know
how they captured the eyes
of the artist,
or the soul of the audience.
They talk with
swollen knuckles,
wounded joints,
fists of skins
that hold a bowl of water
like tender lovers

reunited after turmoil
of burnt temples,
charred limbs,
and severe weather,
that tempered another
purpose -
to walk on the roads
for a bowl of water
seated on a half lotus
made of exhausted toes

painted by the tired fingers
of an artist
from the land of the oppressor
and the oppressed
where artists
must follow
other hands and feet
to enjoy the freedom of exile:
on a canvas
in the West
lingering in our mind,
or to drink
time in history.

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About Me

Stephanie, S.H. Chin is a multicultural, Multilingual journalist/writer/poet who has traveled and lived in 20 countries. Ms. Chin has worked as editor in chief, editor, journalist, research writer for medias such as NBC, CNBC, NBC-Asia, TVB, CNN, Washington Post, Asian Sources, Singtao (NYC), TVB. She is a member of the HK Journalist Association, Asian American Journalist Association, and the HK Writers Circle. Before moving to Hong Kong she was coordinator of the Poetry Center at the State University of N.Y. at Stony Brook and Co-Director of Worldwide Writers Services in N.Y. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including Westhampton Writers Festival, Utah U., SUNY URECA, SUNYSB, SUNY Albany, Long Island Writers Festival Awards, etc. She was a visiting writer in collaboration with the Fulbright Commission to China (e.g. Sichuan University, Beijing Foreign Language U., Beijing Normal U., Shenyang U., Changsa U, Shenzhen U., Guangzhou Foreign Language U., etc.) Her poetry book is “Finger of a Loving Hand”. She translates her own poems. She studied at HKU & SUNY at Stony Brook (Special thank to Cornelius Eady who inspired me) contact: stephaniechin88@gmail.com